Clinton and Obama Struggle for Power

by Sheldon Richman

Many Americans are spellbound by the historic contest for the Democratic presidential nomination between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Forgetting the political context, it is indeed something spectacular, even inspiring. A woman and a black man have reached a pinnacle that just a few years ago seemed impossibly far off.

If it were happening outside politics, it would be something to appreciate.

But we can’t forget the political context, and it’s the nature of that context that should keep us from truly rejoicing in Clinton’s and Obama’s achievements.

For more on this commentary, go to The Future of Freedom Foundation

Oregon student senate committee may have conducted illegal meeting

Eugene, Ore. — A University of Oregon student Senate committee disregarded the state's open meetings law, according to student government President Sam Dotters-Katz.

The Associated Students of the University of Oregon Senate Over-Realized Committee conducted a meeting May 13 to begin evaluating student groups' requests for access to the university's over-realized fund. The fund, which accumulates as enrollment unexpectedly increases, built up more than $735,000 for the 2007-08 academic year. The meeting, according to Dotters-Katz and Oregon Daily Emerald Editor in Chief Laura Powers, violated Oregon's public reports and meetings law.

For more on this article, go to The Student Press Law Center

The state is always the enemy

by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.

The web loves nothing more than a good brawl, so people often write me to ask me to respond to a critic of LewRockwell.com or the Mises Institute. There's certainly no shortage of them, and they come from the left, the right, and everything in between.

My first thought on the request is that the archive speaks for itself, and a response would amount to little more than reprinting. And yet the criticisms in themselves are interesting because often they come from people who liked one thing we said and then felt betrayed by another thing we said, so we get praise for the first thing and attacked for the second thing.

For more on this op/ed, go to LewRockwell.com

The importance of borders

by Walter Block

Doctors without borders. Journalists without borders. Educators without borders. Librarians without borders. Rivers without borders. Potters without borders. Hydrogeologists without borders. Facilitators without borders. Builders without borders. Life without borders. Students without borders. Veterinarians without borders. Friends without borders. MBAs without borders. Words without borders. Dogs without borders (see here). Mexicans without borders. Slavery without borders. Dumping without borders (see here).

These are only some of the quickly burgeoning groups that share the same last (two) name(s), "without borders."

What is going on here? What accounts for this new "without borders" initiative? What do all these groups have in common? Do they resemble each other in any way apart from choice of appellation? And, where are the "libertarians without borders?"

At first glance, these groups are as dissimilar as they can be. What, after all, do doctors, reporters and Mexicans share apart from their humanity, of course? But, by digging a little deeper we are able, at least, to hazard an informed guess as to what is going on.

All of these organizations are associated with leftish political philosophy in general, and with support for world government in particular.

For more on this op/ed piece, go to LewRockwell.com

Texas college muzzles concealed handgun protest

Fort Worth, Texas —In a dramatic blow to freedom of expression, Tarrant County College has prohibited its students from wearing empty gun holsters to protest policies that forbid students with concealed carry licenses from carrying concealed handguns on campus.

A TCC administrator told interested students that they could not wear the holsters and could only conduct a protest in the school's tiny and restrictive free speech zone. TCC student and protest organizer Brett Poulos has turned to a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania civil liberties watchdog for help.

"TCC has cast aside decades-old Supreme Court precedent strongly protecting symbolic expression by refusing to recognize its students' right to wear empty holsters to make their point," said Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

"The students were using the empty holsters to protest policies that they believe render students defenseless. They have every right to engage in this symbolic protest, and TCC's cynical attempt to ban dissenting views is both shameful and transparent."

To read more, go to FIRE's Website. Also, to find out more about the protest taking place nationwide, including UC, go to Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.

Teaching about Mynamar through M & M's - Minn. diversity program found to be a political slush fund

Minneapolis, Minn. - Schools in Minnesota are saving money any way they can, including laying off teachers.

But a 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation has uncovered a huge pot of money that just keeps growing.Experts say that money has been budgeted with no clear purpose.

The $85 million program has a lofty goal—enhance diversity in school districts across the state. But our investigation discovered hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable spending.

For more on this story, go to KSTP-TV 5.

South Ruffner collegues take note - WVU faculty takes stand for free speech

MORGANTOWN - The faculty overwhelmingly defeated another motion that had recommended any faculty member who threatens or intimidates a university employee, board member or other state executive be disciplined or dismissed immediately.

The motion, offered by professor Dallas Branch and rejected 527-23, stemmed from two fliers found in the engineering building last week that used the word "kill.''

The composition and font size were crafted carefully to avoid qualifying as a direct threat, and State Police said last week they did not consider the language criminal.

From a distance it reads, "Kill Joe Manchin,'' although when read closer, does not advocate killing the governor -- just his candidacy for re-election. But campus Police Chief Bob Roberts said last week he found the language disturbing, as did Branch.

"Faculty colleagues, this is unacceptable. It may be seen as a joke to some,'' Branch said. But after the mass murder at Virginia Tech last year, "Something like this cannot be taken as a joke.''

Two professors opposed the language of the motion as overly broad and warned it could have discourage free speech on campus.

This article is condensed version of a larger Associated Press article found in the May 14 edition of The Charleston Daily Mail. To read that article in its entirety, click here. Also, for more information on what lead to the resolution, click here.

How not to prevent a recession

by William L. Anderson

I recently heard a radio interview with a prominent economist who was defending Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's moves to shore up the markets on Wall Street. Bernanke, the economist said with emphasis, had spent years studying the "mistakes" of the Fed during the Great Depression and was not going to repeat the "errors" that the Fed directors committed from 1930 to 1933.

The "errors" of which the economist spoke were outlined by the late Milton Friedman both in his 1963 A Monetary History of the United States (written with Anna Schwartz) and his popular Free to Choose (with Rose Friedman), published in 1979. According to Friedman and his coauthors, the economic collapse that occurred in the United States from 1930 to 1933 came about because the Federal Reserve System failed to act in the face of bank failures and banking panics, leading to a massive contraction in the amount of money in circulation, which ultimately led to the calamity.

Friedman made his arguments as a means to counteract the common explanation of the Great Depression — that it was the result of the "internal contradictions" of capitalism. The typical explanation, popularized by John Kenneth Galbraith as well as the gaggle of Keynesians that proliferated in US universities, was that the capitalist system tends toward "underconsumption" or its evil twin, "overproduction."

(Galbraith held that underconsumption occurred because the income "gap" between the wealthy and poor grew during the 1920s — another "natural" outcome of capitalism — while John Maynard Keynes and his followers held that private investment spending was volatile because of the "animal spirits" of investors. The system had a built-in, self-multiplying, downward spiral whenever private investors were unwilling to throw more money into the economy.)

Those who blamed the Great Depression on the "failures" of the free market were all too happy to come up with their own "solutions," including attempts to cartelize the entire US economy or to force up wages via increased minimum-wage legislation or through the endorsement of expanding labor unions. Some, like Galbraith, went further and advocated out-and-out socialism and central economic planning. The free-market system, they have argued, is too inherently unstable to be left to its own devices. (This is the same argument that Paul Krugman makes twice a week from his perch on the New York Times op-ed page)

Thus, Friedman was seeking not only to explain why he believed the Great Depression occurred, but he also was trying to defend the free-market system, or at least was trying to defend most of the free market system. There was one portion of the system that was prone to failure, he argued, and that was the monetary system.

For more on this article, go to the Ludwig von Mises Institute's Website

Yale won't challege ruling making campus police records public

By A. Matthew Deal, SPLC staff writer

New Haven, Conn. — Yale University will not appeal a state agency decision that makes the university's police department a public body and subject to the state's open records laws, Yale announced in a press release today.

"The University will abide by the FOI Commission's decision requiring disclosure of certain documents related to Yale Police Department officers; we are doing so because Yale recognizes the unique and public law enforcement role that its officers play in the City of New Haven," the statement said.

The commission's ruling came in response to an incident that occurred in 2007 in which a teenager was arrested and charged with breach of peace for riding his bicycle on a public sidewalk. Janet Perrotti, a New Haven public defender, suspected the officers of misconduct and filed a request under the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act for the personnel records of the two officers involved in the arrest.

Yale denied Perrotti's request, arguing that its police department was a private entity and not subject to state open record law. Perrotti appealed the decision to the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, the state agency that resolves disputes over open records requests.

The FOI Commission decided in favor of Perrotti Feb. 13, concluding that the Yale police department was a public agency for several reasons, including Yale police's "exercise of full police powers throughout the City of New Haven."

"As Yale Daily News has been saying, it has been the right move both morally and ethically," said Andrew Mangino, editor in chief of Yale Daily News, the student newspaper at the school.

Mangino said that the paper has been able to get information, such as arrest records, from Yale's police department with few problems. But he said the paper definitely will take advantage of expanded access to Yale police records.

"I'm pleasantly surprised that Yale officials in dropping the appeal did not just say 'we are doing so because we can't win,' but 'we are doing so because we shouldn't,'" Mangino said.

"It is a key decision that speaks well of Yale administration and hopefully be a guide to other universities throughout the country."

This article was orginally published on the Student Press Law Center's Website, and is reprinted with permission.

ODC clears Evans in N.J. man's complaint, but not without warning

CHARLESTON - Debra Santer is not the only one with a beef against Cynthia Evans for failure to render legal services.

So is a New Jersey man who alleges Evans' inaction led to a loss of his son's baseball scholarship and reputation at the University of Charleston.

According to her file with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, the investigative arm of the state Bar Association, Cynthia Evans has three prior complaints lodged against her. Similar to one filed by Santer in 2002, Ivan E. Torres of Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey alleges Evans failed to properly render legal services in spite of being paid a retainer.

In his complaint filed June 30, 2005, Torres says he was referred to Evans in March "to investigate the possibility of filing suit against the University of Charleston and two other individuals." Though details are not immediately clear, Torres says two female UC students, told lies on his son, Ivan Jr., who was then a member of the baseball team.

Prior to Ivan Jr. being cleared of any wrongdoing in both an on-campus and court hearing, Torres consulted with Evans. In a telephone conversation they had on Feb. 28, 2005, Evans told Torres she would need to "review any documents he had" as well as "investigate whether the University of Charleston had violated and school policies."

In their conversation, Evans informed Torres she normally doesn't offer free consultations, and her hourly rate was $225. However, she was willing to take the case for a discounted rate of $200. According the complaint, Torres submitted the documents he had available and a check for $200.

In addition to reviewing Torres' documents, Evans "also searched the Internet in an attempt to obtain the University of Charleston's policies and procedures, but could not locate a complete version ..." Likewise, Evans wrote a letter to UC on March 23, 2005, requesting a copy of the student handbook.

In addition to the handbook, Evans requested any regulations pertaining to the disciplinary action taken against Ivan Jr.According to the complaint, UC did not respond to Evans' request. In his complaint, Torres maintains he e-mailed Evans 12 times between Feb. 28 and June 19, 2005, regarding the status of the case.

Evans, Torres' avers, replied two times with the "last on 5-5 stating she requested a book from school."

Though a date is not specified, Evans says after dictating a letter, she directed her paralegal to " 'inform him [Torres] that the one hour of time he had paid for was already used and for [her] to continue to work on his claim [she] would require additional money.' " Despite in the course of both a telephone and personal conversation Evans' paralegal had with Torres stressing the need for additional money to pursue the investigation, he continued to express displeasure with Evans, and asked for his $200 back.

On Aug. 28, 2006, ODC closed out Torres' complaint. Much like he did with Santer's complaint three years earlier, Chief Lawyer Disciplinary Counsel Lawrence J. Lewis determined "there is insufficient evidence to establish that Respondent [Evans] violated any of the Rules of Professional Conduct" and that the issues between them "constitutes a fee dispute."

However, unlike in Santer's complaint, Lewis referred Torres to Kathy Henning with the Bar's Voluntary Fee Dispute Resolution Program "to address the fee aspects of this matter." Also, Lewis cautioned Evans about not drafting a retainer agreement with Torres.

"It is ill-advised to represent a client without clarifying the scope of representation, as that engenders uncertainty as to the objectives of representation and often results in confusion and dissatisfaction," Lewis said.

"Respondent is reminded to clarify the scope of representation from the outset of the attorney-client relationship and to use written retainer agreements to ensure that such confusion does not occur in the future."

Currently, ODC is investigating a complaint filed against Evans.

This article originally appeared in the March 31 edition of the West Virginia Record, and is reprinted with permission. For a related article, go to the Record's Web Site.